Chapter 1342: Lord Tu Bo Awaits Death (Third Update)
Lord Tu Bo turned around to look at him, as if not understanding his meaning. The twin horns atop his head resembled rivers of magma, surging with flames.
Qin Mu faced the gaze of this majestic being without the slightest panic. He smiled slightly and said, "Since we are allies, shouldn't there be some things we don't hide from each other? Heaven Duke has his methods to break free from constraints. As the Lord of the Netherworld, a being who stands shoulder to shoulder with Heaven Duke, Lord Tu Bo surely has his own corresponding methods, doesn't he?"
Lord Tu Bo's primordial spirit was silent for a moment before saying, "You think I should have means to protect myself?"
Qin Mu chuckled. "It's not that I think so, but that you should have them. If you didn't, that would surprise me."
Lord Tu Bo fell silent again, then said, "I do."
Qin Mu's spirit jolted, his eyes gleaming as he fixed his gaze on him, waiting for him to continue.
However, Lord Tu Bo fell silent once more and did not go on.
Qin Mu's curiosity was piqued. He tested the waters, asking, "What is Lord Tu Bo's method?"
Only then did Lord Tu Bo continue, "Like Heaven Duke, I use a method to break free from the constraints of the Netherworld's great path."
Qin Mu waited for a moment, but Lord Tu Bo did not elaborate. He couldn't help but burst out angrily, "You... this god, why do you speak like a gourd with its mouth sawed off, only able to spit out one seed at a time? Lord Tu Bo, have you spent too much time with the Netherworld Lord and become autistic too?"
Lord Tu Bo glanced at him and said slowly, "You're really impatient. I get along very well with the Benevolent Sage King. We often sit together, drinking tea and chatting."
Qin Mu couldn't imagine that scene.
Two gourd-mouthed people chatting together, spitting out words one by one—how could they possibly carry on a conversation?
"Come with me."
Lord Tu Bo's primordial spirit walked into that palace. Qin Mu, his curiosity stirred again, quickly followed him. Inside the palace, the Medicine King was still treating the Netherworld Lord's injuries. Moon Lord saw them and hurried over, asking softly, "The Netherworld Lord's injuries are quite troublesome... Where are you two going?"
Qin Mu whispered an explanation, and Moon Lord's curiosity was also piqued. "Lord Tu Bo's divine powers are vast; his methods must be astonishing."
The two followed Lord Tu Bo into the magma pool inside the palace. Lord Tu Bo's primordial spirit stepped into the magma, and they followed him in.
The magma wasn't hot; it didn't feel like magma at all, but rather a strange liquid.
Qin Mu was puzzled. Lord Tu Bo, as a divine being, was extremely peculiar. He had no traditional physical body; his form was composed of countless dead worlds, devoid of life.
This was hard for beings with physical bodies to understand, yet Lord Tu Bo existed nonetheless.
In fact, Heaven Duke was the same.
Heaven Duke's body was made up of countless suns and rays of light, also lacking a traditional physical form.
Among the Dao-born ancient gods, these two were the most unique. Others, like Heavenly Yin Empress and Empress Empress, had physical bodies. Qin Mu had studied their bodies deeply and thoroughly.
They walked through endless magma and arrived inside Lord Tu Bo's body. The space suddenly opened up. Although it was still filled with boundless darkness, patches of light could be seen—so many lights, in fact.
Qin Mu opened his vertical eye on his forehead and looked. What he saw was strange.
The lights he saw were countless living beings, surrounded by karmic fire. Their numbers were immense, far surpassing the stars in the sky by an unknown margin!
Where these lights were located were countless worlds, too numerous to count. The myriad heavens and realms of the Primordial Realm were already vast, but compared to what he saw now, they were but a drop in the ocean.
Even stranger was that the karmic fire of these beings was unstable. Wisps of karmic fire rose from their bodies and flew into the darkness.
In the darkness, these karmic fires converged, forming rivers of karmic flame.
These rivers of karmic flame spread like a spiderweb, merging in groups of three or five in the darkness, continuously combining until they reached the center of Lord Tu Bo's body, where they fully converged.
There, the karmic fire was thick and intense, so dense that even Qin Mu's eyesight couldn't penetrate it!
The shape of the karmic fire there was like a massive fireball, or like an egg formed from karmic flame!
An egg of karmic fire, gestating life!
Moon Lord surveyed the space inside Lord Tu Bo's body, her gaze falling on the place where the karmic fire gathered. She let out a soft exclamation.
Lord Tu Bo said, "Moon friend, have you seen through it?"
Moon Lord showed a puzzled expression. "I've noticed some clues. You're drawing on the karmic fire of all beings to nurture something. But I see no signs of life within that karmic fire egg!"
Qin Mu was also looking in that direction. His current eyesight couldn't penetrate the karmic fire egg, far inferior to Moon Lord's, but he also sensed something off.
Lord Tu Bo gathered the karmic fire of all beings. When beings committed too many transgressions, the karmic fire would burn their souls. Lord Tu Bo took their sins upon himself, allowing the karmic fire not to burn their souls but to burn within his own body.
The strange part was this: Lord Tu Bo's body was the Netherworld itself, but now his true form was merely an outer shell—empty inside!
In other words, Lord Tu Bo was left with only the outer continent as his skin, while his true body had vanished, leaving only this karmic fire egg!
"I have no true body."
Lord Tu Bo said, "I am using the karmic fire of all beings to forge a true body for myself, preparing to shed my identity as an ancient god and become an independent life. The Netherworld's great path created me but also bound me. It gave me boundless power but also trapped me here, unable to experience joy, anger, sorrow, love, or hate. I cannot smell fragrances, taste delicious food, feel touch, or pain. I cannot even feel familial affection, friendship, or love. However..."
He paused for a moment, then said, "I have felt them before."
Qin Mu's heart stirred, and he murmured, "Ugly."
"Yes, Ugly."
Lord Tu Bo continued, "Ugly experienced things I never have. Ugly had his own joys, angers, sorrows, loves, and hates. Compared to him, I am not truly a life. I am merely a vessel for the Netherworld's great path. It was Ugly who attacked the Heavenly Court, not me. I envy him. I await a death."
Qin Mu and Moon Lord were deeply shaken, staring at him in disbelief.
Lord Tu Bo's stiff face revealed a faint smile. "You heard me right. I envy Ugly, and I await a death, hoping to become Ugly. This karmic fire forging a true body is what I prepared for Ugly. I am waiting for Ugly's daughter to kill me, waiting for her to end my life so that I can become Ugly. At that time..."
His ugly face was filled with a gentle smile. "We will be a family again. I will be a father, and she will be my daughter."
Moon Lord fell silent.
Qin Mu couldn't help but say, "Will Void Lord recognize you as her father? Lord Tu Bo, you're gambling with your own life!"
Lord Tu Bo looked down at him, his ugly, stiff face showing more and more humanity. He said, "Lord Mu, you are not me, nor are you a father. You can never understand the tremor in my heart when I became Ugly, when my daughter was born. You wanted to see my hidden methods? Look!"
He spread his hand and waved it gently.